Pre-Revolutionary War Dbq

The word terrorism, as defined by the Merriam-Webster dictionary, is “the use of violent acts to frighten the people in an area as a way of trying to achieve a political goal.” When the ordinary being hears this powerful word, one perhaps may think of ISIS, an extreme radical muslim group. Or maybe, the individual may picture the tragic event that took place on September 11th, 2001 at the World Trade Center. No matter what feelings or images the word “terrorism” provokes in humans, it would certainly be unexpected for one to associate pre- revolutionary American colonists as terrorists. Despite the unaccustomed connection to most, some debate that through their destructive acts, threatening attitudes, and propaganda, the colonists can be considered …show more content…
This paper will argue that the colonists, the founders of this country, were the truest form of terrorists in their time, through the group the Sons of Liberty, because of their advocation to overthrow the government via destructive actions and the use of propaganda and fear to inflict physical and mental pain in order obtain their personal political goals.
The colonists in the patriot group, the Sons of Liberty, were terrorists because they destroyed property blantly to achieve an objection that was against the current government. To begin with, just because colonists disagreed with a tax instituted by the federal government, they destroyed valuable goods at a great economic cost to England. They used mob mentality, a tactic often formulated with terrorism, to convince other colonists to ruin goods in order to “prove a point”. For example, in 1772, when a customs ship runs aground, colonists take it into their own hands and burn this property. This …show more content…
Through propaganda and violent demonstrations, the Sons of Liberty spread the fear. Drawing such as Paul Revere’s Boston Massacre spread lies of justification to be against Parliament, Britain's legislature. It depicts the British soldiers involved as cruel and violent, when in reality, the colonists were the ones who initiated this violence. Propaganda was used to twist the story and draw other colonists in. It was not uncommon for customs officials, tax collectors, and British officials to be threatened with death or to be a victim of tar and feathering. The Sons of Liberty did not stop at the British, they turned on their own people who didn’t join their cult of destruction. They would publicly humiliate loyalists, those who refused to join in the terrorist activities. Anne Hulton, a loyalist to England, describes a violent fury demonstrated by the Sons of Liberty, “He was stript stark naked...his body covered all over with tar, then with feathers, his arm dislocated in tearing off his clothes. He was dragged in a cart with thousands attending...They gave him several severe whippings...This spectacle of horror and cruelty was exhibited for about five hours...No person is secure.” Even the feeling of safety was stolen from these common folk by the terrorists. Governors, officials, and even citizens were scared to be in this environment where violence was so common. Governors